hands passed through her as she lowered her mouth to perform CPR. I tried again, tried with everything I had, to touch her, to hold her, but my fingers just slid through her body, my words tumbling out unheard.
I screamed with rage and frustration. Kristof’s arms wrapped around me, and he hugged me tight as we watched our daughter desperately try to resuscitate a dead woman.
“They’re coming,” Kris said, striding back into the studio. “Lucas dropped Paige off at the door. He’s parking the car now, and she’s running in.” He knelt beside Savannah. “Come over to the window, sweetheart. You can see Paige. She’s on her way.”
Savannah just kept rocking, her bloodied hands wrapped around her knees, gaze straight ahead. Two medics had arrived and were tending to Lily and the other woman, but no one had time for Savannah. Her classmates had fled the moment Lily dropped the gun, leaving Savannah alone with two dead bodies.
“Wasn’t fast enough,” Savannah mumbled, mouth pressed against her knees. “Should have picked another spell. A faster one.”
“You did fine, sweetheart,” Kris said. He reached for her hands, lips twitching as his fingers grasped only air. He threw a glare over his shoulder. “Where’s Paige?”
I walked to the window. From there, I could see the drop-off circle, now hastily taped off. Paige was stuck on the other side, arguing with a young officer. Her face was taut, eyes simmering, and I knew she longed to knock the officer flying over his yellow tape with a knock-back spell, and charge in here after Savannah. But I also knew she wouldn’t, not until she’d exhausted all the safe routes.
A young man strode up behind Paige. Tall, thin, Latino, wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a battered leather jacket.
“Lucas,” I breathed. “Thank God. You tell them.”
“He will,” Kris said from across the room.
Even from here I could see Lucas’s quiet demeanor fall away as he drew himself up, snapping orders with the air of authority only a Cabal son can muster. As he spoke, he eased sideways, pulling the officer’s attention with him. Paige sidestepped in the other direction, then darted under the tape and ran for the building.
“She’s coming,” I said.
I hurried into the hall to coax Paige along. Even if she could have heard me, she didn’t need the encouragement. She made a beeline for the studio, flying through the door and across the room, then dropped to embrace Savannah.
Savannah melted in Paige’s arms, sobbing against her shoulder. Lucas wheeled through the doorway a minute later. He left Savannah where she was, still clinging to Paige, face buried, but took her hand. With his free hand, he reached into Paige’s purse, dug out a tissue, and gingerly began to clean the blood from Savannah’s fingers. As I watched them, my heart ached. Part of me was happy, knowing that my daughter had the best guardians I could want for her. And yet another part of me hurt so bad seeing them there together—a family that didn’t include me and never would.
“I couldn’t help her,” I whispered. “I couldn’t do anything. I tried—I’ve been trying so hard. I thought maybe, just maybe—but I was wrong. I can’t do anything.”
Kristof’s arms went around me and I collapsed into them.
Paige and Lucas took Savannah home a few minutes later. Kristof led me around the back of the building and we walked the trails there for about an hour, saying nothing. I couldn’t stop thinking about that moment in the art room when Lily had lifted the gun, playing it and replaying it as I searched for a solution, something I could have done. There was an answer. One answer. Become an angel.
As I turned to Kristof, the words were on my lips. I could protect her, Kris. If I became an angel, I could protect her. I could have stopped Lily and the Nix. But as I imagined saying it, I knew his response. He’d see it not as the perfect solution, but as another step down into the quagmire—giving up my afterlife to serve as an angel so I could protect our daughter.
So instead I said, “Maybe I can’t help Savannah, but I can show the Nix that this little ‘demonstration’ hasn’t done anything but piss me off.”
A tiny smile. “And that’s never good.”
“Which she is about to find out.” I glanced back toward the community center. “I’d better go find Trsiel.” I looked at Kristof. “I guess this is good-bye again, for a little while.”